1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a support rack, and more specifically but not by way of limitation, to an apparatus and method for supporting four-post rack mounted equipment in a two-post equipment rack system.
2. Background
Equipment racks are used to support many different types of equipment or systems (e.g., computer servers). Many equipment manufacturers provide equipment with support mechanisms for being supported in traditional four-post rack systems (e.g., cabinets). Often, four-post racks, such as those shown in (Electronic Industries Association) EIA Standard EIA-310-D, incorporated herein by reference, can cost thousands of dollars while two-post equipment racks may only cost several hundred dollars. Therefore, users of four-post rack mountable equipment are interested in an economical, easy alternative to having to use four-post rack systems.
In today's ever-increasing technological world, many equipment systems are becoming smaller and smaller. However, there remain many systems that are still relatively large. As many modern corporations utilize these systems, it is generally desirable and economical to store these systems in one convenient location, which traditionally has been a four-post rack. These racks must be designed to handle the heavy and light loads of the different systems stored therein.
While a four-post rack traditionally has been the standard for users to mount these systems, due to the expense associated with the four-post racks, two-post equipment racks have been increasingly desirable. The two-post equipment racks provide the benefit of allowing equipment mounted thereto to be more accessible to a user. The two-post rack further takes up less real estate than full four-post rack systems. However, because most equipment systems are pre-designed for four-post racks, the user has been subjected to having to purchase expensive four-post equipment racks to mount the equipment.